I remember a case where a guy had killed his family three or four decades earlier then disappeared. The forensics expert on the show had constructed a prediction of his head, and he was arrested a week or so later. The resemblance was striking, down to the receding hair and thick-framed glasses. The explanation about the thick glasses was that he was scared and would want to project authority. Amazing.

Not a stupid question at all. In fact -- this is a great challenge. Telling a story, documentary or narrative, without the benefit of dialogue will give you the chance to flex your creative chops quite a bit.

How will every frame give your audience more information? How will every shot telegraph the right emotion? And advance the story arc at the same time?

A good music choice will help a lot, too. Foley can be a powerful tool.

One of my favorite TV spots of the last few years does this extraordinarily well. There's no question of what the story is, and there's a twist payoff:

I live a block from Best Buy. I'll bring some popcorn and a GoPro when they open at 5pm tonight. I won't ever buy anything there -- they openly advertise as a showroom -- but I'm happy to make a buck when some idiots get trampled in the scrum for products that didn't exist before Black Friday.